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7 million Iranians living in poverty

Business Materials 29 October 2014 12:07 (UTC +04:00)

Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct.29

By Fatih Karimov - Trend: Minimum monthly wage for average Iranian family should be $560, according to the Statistical Center of Iran.

This is while the Iranian administration has set the minimum salary for civil servants in the current Iranian calendar year at 6 million rials (about $240), Iran's Mehr news agency reported Oct. 29.

Adel Azar, director of the Statistical Center of Iran said the past spring season's cost of living in rural and urban areas for an average Iranian family was $310 and $560, respectively.

USD exchange rate in Iran is currently about 32,000 rials.

Iranian Labor Minister Ali Rabiei said on Oct. 28 that some 7 million people in Iran are living in absolute poverty and their food security is at risk.

Within the framework of the subsidy reform plan, the people who suffer from absolute poverty have been identified he added.

Meanwhile, 5 million to 6 million people have been identified that are as wealthy as rich people in the US, he added.

In February, the government began distributing food packages to help low-income Iranians. But bad planning resulted in many mistakes, causing it to go wrong, and the administration was seriously criticized on the issue.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani underlined that the administration will pay attention to ensuring food security for the people, saying that food package subsidies will be delivered to people, along with the cash subsidies.

The administration pays 455,000 rials (about $14) to Iranians based on the country's subsidy reform plan.

Iran's subsidy reform plan is aimed at easing the pressure on state finances by cutting tens of billions of dollars from government subsidies on food and fuel. The government pays cash to citizens as compensation for increased prices by cutting subsides.

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